Since the invention of the automobile, automobile manufacturers have prioritized passenger safety. From seat belts to inflatable air bags to headlights, automobile manufacturers provide many features to increase passenger safety. These safety features have prevented innumerable injuries.
At some point since the invention of the automobile, child safety seats for use in the automobile were developed. These child safety seats provide greater protection for the child occupant in the event of a collision. Some countries now have laws requiring the use of a baby car seat designed specifically for children two years of age and younger. In addition, some countries have laws requiring children older than two years but under a set height (such as 4 feet 9 inches) to use a “booster” seat that places the child in a better position to use a seat belt. The term “child safety seat” encompasses, but is not limited to, both a baby car seat and a booster seat, and includes both a rear-facing child safety seat and a forward-facing child safety seat.
International standards have been developed regulating the position of attachment points on a vehicle seat to which a child safety seat can be attached. These international standards are sometimes referred to as “ISOFIX” or, in the United States of America, “LATCH.” LATCH is an acronym for “Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren.” Among other things, these international standards require two attachment points, called “lower anchors” or just “anchors,” at the base of the seat where the seatback meets the bottom cushion. Typically, the lower anchors are to be spaced approximately 11 inches apart.
A child safety seat, in turn, has matching attachment systems that allow the child safety seat to attach to the lower anchors. Some child safety seats provide a flexible belt connecting the attachment system to the child safety seat. Other child safety seats provide a rigid attachment system.
The use of a child safety seat presents certain problems. For example, a child safety seat only works for its intended purpose of increasing child occupant safety when the seat is properly attached. However, heretofore, vehicles have not provided the operator with any indication that a child safety seat is fully attached to both of the lower anchors. Thus, a vehicle operator cannot be certain that the child safety seat has been properly attached to the lower anchors.
In addition, a front seat occupant may inadvertently move the front seatback toward the child safety seat and interfere with the child safety seat or the child occupant. The front seat occupant may move the front seatback into the structure of the child safety seat, when the child safety seat is rear facing, moving the child safety seat out of a position optimal for child safety. The front seat occupant may move the front seatback into the child's legs, when the child safety seat is front facing. Heretofore, vehicles have not prevented the front seat from interfering with child safety seats or occupants thereof in these manners.